Monday, August 27, 2012

Like every other Dodger fan, I have been religiously watching the sports newswire trying to comprehend and believe that this trade with Boston was really happening. Words like "unprecedented" and "historic" were used to describe the trade that included All Stars players and a whole lot of money. But when I think of this trade, it reminds me of another blocker buster trade that occurred in 2006 between my beloved Dodgers and the Florida Marlins. This also included All Star players and was a real steal for the Dodgers. The Dodgers received Dontrelle Willis and Miguel Cabrera for Mark Henderickson and Wilson Betemit. And it all happened on my Playstation in the middle of my MLB 2006 season. It worked out very well for both the Dodgers and me. I played all 162 regular season games and went on to win the World Series that year.

I have grown up playing a lot of video games and still have some great memories of my brothers and me sitting in the living room and playing the original RBI Baseball by Namco on the Nintendo Entertainment System. In fact, I can still hum the background tune that accompanied the game. The closest thing to playing a stacked team in that game was controlling the American and National league All Stars which included such baseball icons as George Brett and Mark McGwire. Our family enjoyed the game so much, we went on to buy the RBI Baseball sequels. Then when I had my Playstation and Playstation 2, I was able to enjoy the Sony MLB titles that gave the player more freedom in selecting rosters and even making trades. And that is where I remember that "other" Dodger blockbuster trade happening.

So for me, this trade is so unbelievable, that it feels like I am playing a video game and am stacking my beloved Dodger team to make a run to the World Series. Except it really did happen and the trade seems to have positioned the Dodgers well for this year and in the near future. Now it is up to the Blue Crew to hit the start button and avoid the glitches to bring home a title to Los Angeles. Go Blue!

As a (partially reformed) gamer, I know the feeling. I play MLB 2K12 from time to time, but now my career-mode player I started when I got the game plays for a Dodger team that is more or less what we started this season with.

Remember the old EA baseball games, the MVP series? The one that had Manny on the cover, maybe 2003 or 04, I had the greatest rotation in history. I traded Wilson Alvarez for Roger Clemens, Odalis Perez for Randy Johnson, and I drafted two young bucks from the fantasy draft named Satchel Paige and Sandy Koufax. But who was the ace? The game let you up the pitchers stats the more you used them, so after a few seasons my ace was a fully maxed out ... Wait for it ... Jeff Weaver. I threw 5 perfect games in a row with him on the hard difficulty.

Remember the old EA baseball games, the MVP series? The one that had Manny on the cover, maybe 2003 or 04, I had the greatest rotation in history. I traded Wilson Alvarez for Roger Clemens, Odalis Perez for Randy Johnson, and I drafted two young bucks from the fantasy draft named Satchel Paige and Sandy Koufax. But who was the ace? The game let you up the pitchers stats the more you used them, so after a few seasons my ace was a fully maxed out ... Wait for it ... Jeff Weaver. I threw 5 perfect games in a row with him on the hard difficulty.